Fulham vs Bournemouth: Post Match thread (Merged)

[Jules]

Happy with the point today. We have to defend better than we are doing. Their goals were so easy for them, and we looked open whenever they attacked. To gift the first goal at the start was poor. That said, second half when Cairney came on we were much better. Lacked movement up top towards the end, but Mitro clearly not quite fit. Big game on Thursday now. We need ideally 4 points from the next 2 games for sure. COYW

[Motspur]

IMO Marco started again with the wrong team. What does he see in Dan James? He's one assist is pace but can't pass doesn't seem to have a football brain. Surprised Tosin left out for Diop and every time Diop had the ball playing out I had fears.
Changes at half time worked favourably and Tom and Willian gave composure to our game structure. I thought BDR and Antonee Robinson were our best players today; both up and down the pitch non stop, the final ball in particular their crossing just needs improving.
Had fears about the referee today but we finally got beneficial decision. Not saying he was good though.

[ChesterTheTabby]

IMO Marco started again with the wrong team. What does he see in Dan James? He's one assist is pace but can't pass doesn't seem to have a football brain. Surprised Tosin left out for Diop and every time Diop had the ball playing out I had fears.
Changes at half time worked favourably and Tom and Willian gave composure to our game structure. I thought BDR and Antonee Robinson were our best players today; both up and down the pitch non stop, the final ball in particular their crossing just needs improving.
Had fears about the referee today but we finally got beneficial decision. Not saying he was good though.

Re James I think he's just hoping for a quick through ball or over the top for James to sprint after and blow clear. Otherwise, he sadly lacks the composure and vision of other players at this level. Wilson is far the superior player and James could learn a lot.

[Jules]

IMO Marco started again with the wrong team. What does he see in Dan James? He's one assist is pace but can't pass doesn't seem to have a football brain. Surprised Tosin left out for Diop and every time Diop had the ball playing out I had fears.
Changes at half time worked favourably and Tom and Willian gave composure to our game structure. I thought BDR and Antonee Robinson were our best players today; both up and down the pitch non stop, the final ball in particular their crossing just needs improving.
Had fears about the referee today but we finally got beneficial decision. Not saying he was good though.

Agree with the Diop point. Ok, good header for the goal but very shaky on the ball today. Tosin a better passer in my opinion. also agree about Dan James. Bring him on for his pace last 15-20, fine. But no way a starter. He offers little. Hopefully Willian or Wilson start next one.

[filham]

Just got back .
It was a good game and Bournmoutth are an in form team with a tight defense. We played well, had most of the play but lacked bite in the box.

Cairney looked class and really must start against Vila as should Wilson, they are both capable of creating and scoring goals.

[SerbianLad]

I thought he was clearly limited, Serbian Lad but it was obvious why.  He did as well as he could have given those circumstances.

Its a bit weird how many people (outside of this forum) thought Mitro conned the ref for the penalty.

I agree, but I think some of the criticism is blown out of proportion. He was still quite good (nowhere near his best), but he offered more than Vinicius did against West Ham (imo at least) and still won plenty of headers. He still won 4 headers (second only to Palhinha) and if he was fully fit I'm sure he would have one a lot more considering the ammount of croses we had(although some of the crosses were quite poor). I thought his passing was off today and that was his biggest issue(probably due to him only having 1-3 trainings with the team). I expect him to shine in the next game with some more days of recovery, training with the team and with these 90 minutes under his belt.

[Somerset Fulham]

Yeah, I agree with that.

[Kimbleman]

Okay as I saw it.....

James.... pointless, adds precious little in either attack or defence.

I thought Palhinha didn't distribute as well today, a couple of passes went errantly to the opposition (or out of play). He did look better when Cairney came on.....which leads me to say (and agree with a previous reply) he changed the game for us playing with his head up, looking always to play an attacking ball. Bloke has to start.

Willian....again class and if fully fit ALWAYS starts (ahead of James)  he with Cairney gave us a better attacking shape.

BDR is the new Denis Odoi....slipped in as a good wing back (guy is seriously one of our better player).

Good to see Harry back (I thought he offered more than Kebano).

Reams amazing defensive tackle was class (we all stood to applaud that).

Mitro didn't look 100%

Reed a bit ineffective and just tore about the pitch.

Diop....good goal but seemed to get a lot of the ball without playing any killer pass.

Jedi....played well and is looking more and more at home in the Premiership.

So all in all a point was pretty fair, Bournemouth looked useful up front and solid in defence. Shame we didn't meet them when Parker was in charge.

Onwards and upwards, certainly think we have enough about us to stay up this time 😁

[Deeping_white]

James might be 5th choice winger when Solomon is back, I've got no idea what he offers. Willian you can clearly see used to be a top top player, he's got a very good footballing brain and just calms everything down when he's on the ball. Diop was fine today, Ream for me was the weaker CB today and I think his intital good start is behind him. I'd rather we went with Tosin and Diop from here on out as that's our long term pairing so we need to start playing them together.

Also not sure how anyone could watch that game and say that Reed should be ahead of Pereira if you put TC in the team. Reed was a bit of a headless chicken and was too high up the pitch when we had the ball, playing TC deeper next to Palhinha allowed TC to dictate things whilst Palhinha and Pereira buzzed around him

[copthornemike]

My thoughts from today:
What has happened to that effective team press we had so early in the season before the first nyernational break, particularly at the start of each game? Today Bournemouth did not have to try too hard, particularly in the first half, to bypass our forward press.
Our defence now looks so easy to pull out of any defensive shape and lacks organisation.
Bournemouth consistently used long cross field balls out to the wing to create overloads and all too easily draw our centre backs out of position. For a lot of the first half Ream appeared to be our left back & Robinson an out of position CB when they attacked, eg their second goal!
Wilson is quick but so lightweight and little protection for our left back I am afraid.
BDR tried hard but is not a top FB.
We really  have a problem when Tête is unfit, which is occurring all too frequently unfortunately.
Our final ball, particularly crosses from both wings were so poor.
Positives
Second half so much better, mostly down to Cairney. Take a bow Tom.
Leno showed once again he really is a top keeper who kept us in the game. The double save at the end of the second half........wow.

The introduction of William and Wilson produced a significantly better, if not always effective, second half so well done to our manager not to wait until the  hour to change things.
At least we got a point in spite of ourselves.

Really these are the type of games we should expect to win if we wish to not get into a relegation scrap later in the season.

[fulhamfever]

Both goals for the cherry's was the defence not following their man or the attacker and also one touch finishes both times the player was free and got the one touch finish. When are we going to learn basic defensive strategy go with your man or mark your guy. SMH

[Whitestone]

James might be 5th choice winger when Solomon is back, I've got no idea what he offers. Willian you can clearly see used to be a top top player, he's got a very good footballing brain and just calms everything down when he's on the ball. Diop was fine today, Ream for me was the weaker CB today and I think his intital good start is behind him. I'd rather we went with Tosin and Diop from here on out as that's our long term pairing so we need to start playing them together.

Also not sure how anyone could watch that game and say that Reed should be ahead of Pereira if you put TC in the team. Reed was a bit of a headless chicken and was too high up the pitch when we had the ball, playing TC deeper next to Palhinha allowed TC to dictate things whilst Palhinha and Pereira buzzed around him

Agree. The defence needed refreshing but the wrong CB was dropped. We need to find a way to stop leaking goals and that begins at Motspur on Monday. Tosin and Diop are the future. Cairney and Willian made such a difference and we didn't miss Reed that's for sure. Thought BDR and Robinson were excellent second half. We had enough of the game to win and IMO deserved to on the play. Shame about the defensive lapses in the first half.

[LC]

So I think it's fair to say that everyone would like to see Willian, Wilson and Cairney start the next game.

Personally, I wouldn't start Wilson, I still think we need to ease him back into the team- you could see today he wasn't 100% sharp. Now you only get that sharpness by playing, so the manager has a decision to make.

Willian looked good today, you can see he has some class to his game. I think he can contribute this season for sure.

Cairney has looked the best I've ever seen him, looks to have matured his game and when he came on we were very much second best and he changed that.

Mitrovic was clearly not 100%. I'd say he was 60% today, hopefully he's nearer to 80% by our next game

[perry geyton]

James might be 5th choice winger when Solomon is back, I've got no idea what he offers. Willian you can clearly see used to be a top top player, he's got a very good footballing brain and just calms everything down when he's on the ball. Diop was fine today, Ream for me was the weaker CB today and I think his intital good start is behind him. I'd rather we went with Tosin and Diop from here on out as that's our long term pairing so we need to start playing them together.

Also not sure how anyone could watch that game and say that Reed should be ahead of Pereira if you put TC in the team. Reed was a bit of a headless chicken and was too high up the pitch when we had the ball, playing TC deeper next to Palhinha allowed TC to dictate things whilst Palhinha and Pereira buzzed around him

Totally agree with every word of this post and said as much at the game today. The defence needed refreshing but the wrong CB was dropped. We need to find a way to stop leaking goals and that begins at Motspur on Monday. Tosin and Diop are the future. Cairney and Willian made such a difference and we didn't miss Reed that's for sure. Thought BDR and Robinson were excellent second half. We had enough of the game to win and IMO deserved to on the play. Shame about the defensive lapses in the first half.

The wrong center back was dropped ???
Here we go again "Tim Ream" the constant scapegoat, never ceases to amaze me, please fill me in on how either of those goals were on him PLUS all the positives of his play today,,,,
It just never ends

[perry geyton]

I'd love to have a chat with Marco and ask him exactly why the likes of James and Peirrah can just walk into this team yet our talisman and most skillful, composed and creative player has to watch them from the bench week in and week out, playing the occasional bit part generally when we are losing or to finish a game off....

Could it be they don't get along or Marco just can't see his brilliance and how he contributes to our team, surely if today didn't wake him up to this fact then I'm leaning towards my first assumption...

For me if Tom doesn't start in our next game he clearly has an agenda I'm sorry to say

I love Marco and think he's a brilliant coach but this one absolutely baffles me, also if Tom doesn't get game time soon then surely he'll be thinking or considering moving on as he's only got a few more years left of his career, he needs to PLAY

[Sting of the North]

James might be 5th choice winger when Solomon is back, I've got no idea what he offers. Willian you can clearly see used to be a top top player, he's got a very good footballing brain and just calms everything down when he's on the ball. Diop was fine today, Ream for me was the weaker CB today and I think his intital good start is behind him. I'd rather we went with Tosin and Diop from here on out as that's our long term pairing so we need to start playing them together.

Also not sure how anyone could watch that game and say that Reed should be ahead of Pereira if you put TC in the team. Reed was a bit of a headless chicken and was too high up the pitch when we had the ball, playing TC deeper next to Palhinha allowed TC to dictate things whilst Palhinha and Pereira buzzed around him

Totally agree with every word of this post and said as much at the game today. The defence needed refreshing but the wrong CB was dropped. We need to find a way to stop leaking goals and that begins at Motspur on Monday. Tosin and Diop are the future. Cairney and Willian made such a difference and we didn't miss Reed that's for sure. Thought BDR and Robinson were excellent second half. We had enough of the game to win and IMO deserved to on the play. Shame about the defensive lapses in the first half.

The wrong center back was dropped ???
Here we go again "Tim Ream" the constant scapegoat, never ceases to amaze me, please fill me in on how either of those goals were on him PLUS all the positives of his play today,,,,
It just never ends

Surely people can have an opinion on a football forum without meaning that Ream is a scapegoat? Are people not allowed to prefer other players? No one said a bad word about Ream, just had opinions on who was better today and what they would like to see next time.

I personally thought it was difficult to assess the back line defensively today. In the first half they were badly exposed because everyone in front of them looked off their games and offered neither any protection nor any breathing space. Second half they didn't have to defend very much. Ream had some troubles dealing with the physicality when Bournemouth attacked occasionally with the diagonal ball, but still dealt decently with it. Both CB's used the ball well.

I don't think there is much between Diop, Ream and Tosin, but I do believe there is very high potential in a Diop and Tosin pairing for the future.

[Rambler]

Diop looked very very shaky on the ball today.
Spent a lot of time dallying on it and was slow to distribute. Definitely felt like the weaker of the CB pairing to me today

[joef]

The moment Cairney came on our defence looked so much calmer because they had someone in the midfield dropping back to receive the ball off them.
The result was disappointing but there were definite positives today.
BDR, Ream, Robinson, Cairney, Willian and Wilson all looked good today.
Still with folk coming back from injury it's not all doom.
We've stopped the run of defeats. Fingers crossed we can get all 3 points against Villa.

[SerbianLad]

I don't get why Diop gets so much stick here. He was our best defender today probably. He looked shakey a few times but he didn't actually make many (if any) mistakes.

[colinwhite]

Mitro clearly not fit and being unable to make the ball stick in his hold up play cost us and actually led to their second goal.hes clearly feeling his ankle injury so all credit to him for trying for the team but he looks less than 75 per cent fit to me.